Agora, Acropolis, Athens...oh my!

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Enjoy the beautiful pictures of the city! Mary

P.S. I apologize for the many entries you're going to receive from my trip over Christmas. I finally sat down and got all the pictures uploaded and everything written and now that I've got it done, I don't want to wait to send out some of the entries. I hope to get my Lisbon pictures up very shortly so you can expect another entry from me when that happens. Enjoy the pics and let me know how you're doing!

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Photos

The Parthenon
They were doing a lot of preservation work, but the Parthenon was still an imposing structure.

In the Agora
Can you imagine looking out your window every morning to see the remains of the Roman Agora? I can't.

Posing for a pic
This is one of the few pictures of me in Greece in which I'm wearing a coat just because it's December and my brain says that I should be wearing a coat even though the weather says I should definitely NOT be wearing a coat.

This is all that's left
The structure that used to be here must have been awesome. Where some of the pillars are missing, I could see the slots where the dowels went to hold up the columns. Not very big in relation to what they supported.

THE Roman Agora
This is the site of the center of Roman civilization within Athens. In the distance sits the Temple of Hephaistos.

Church of the Holy Apostles
This is one of the only structures within the Agora to have been preserved.

Amphitheatre of Herodus Atticus
This is still used in the summer for various productions.

Bad things happen
when you ask strangers to take a good photo. Neither the Parthenon nor I actually lean to the side like it looks in the photo. ;-)

The Erechtheion
Dedicated to various deities of Athena, this structure was built between 421 and 406 B.C.

View of the end of the Parthenon
Not nearly as interesting as it could have been before the Venetians bombed the structure in 1687.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus
There used to be 104 columns, of which only 15 remain. One of the columns was blown down during a storm in 1852.

Who would have guessed?
It's me with the Parthenon...again.

We claim this rocky crag for Greece!
The flag is flying high above the city.

Holy doric column, Batman!
I still can't figure out how they actually maneuver all of this stone up to the top of a giant rock.

Statues at the Erechtheion
These six statues are all duplicates. Five of the originals are inside the museum on the Acropolis and the other is at the British Museum...so I can visit it anytime I want.

Hadrian's Arch
On one side of the arch it says "This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus." On the other side it says "This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus."

Hmmmm
I can't tell you of what this is a picture, but I thought it was pretty so I took one.

The front of my Hostel
Here is where I spent my down time while I was in Athens...not that I had a lot of down time.

Pretty picture
This picture was a mosaic of sorts in the side of a building just to the south of the Acropolis.

New Year's Eve Celebration
About 3/4 of a block from my hostel, a HUGE party was taking place with traditional Greek music and a whole lot of people.

Where have all the boys gone?
To quote the title of a book my friend Helen got me for Christmas, where have all the boys gone? I think they all went to Athens, but that's just my personal opinion. :-)

Comments

[Mary]

love the pics
Wow, mary, your pics look great! Donna Henley

[Kimberley]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.